mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

I was a Jim Harbaugh advocate when RichRod was hired but Michigan turned a deaf ear and went with the flavor of the month. Now look at Harbaugh. My wife met RichRod at the UM women's football camp prior to his first season and said "he's John Cooper". And she was right. So now the RichRod dismissal is a fair accompli (three years and a cloud of dust") but what does Michigan do now if Harbaugh says "no"?
They have one option - Les Miles. Yes, he's an ass clown. But he beat Ohio State in the BCS NC game. And he's the one true linkage to Bo that's actually viable and Michigan needs that lineage now more than ever. Michigan needs to rebuild the proud tradition that eroded under RichRod. And Ohio State fans will love to hate Les Miles. A guy like Brady Hoke will not get the same immediate respect and will not get the juices flowing on either side of the Toledo border.

So why would Miles leave now? Miles has to see that the rise of Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas (and Mississippi State!?) in the SEC West will make his life much more difficult in the years ahead. He has already been to summit at LSU but their fans are already asking "what have you done for me lately?". On the other had, he can be the Michigan savior and compete in a less intense environment within the Big Ten's Legends division (against his former defensive coordinator Bo Pelini).

In my view, Dave Brandon has choreographed this well. If you don't know where you're going, stay where you are. But he moved. Based on what happened last time, the Les Miles hire will not leak prior to LSU's game against Texas A&M . And Brandon will not be incommunicado on a yacht in the near term. So I would expect an announcement sometime after LSU's Bowl game so that Michigan doesn't have replay of the last hiring fiasco.

About 10 years ago, I paid a nominal fee and was placed on the season ticket waiting list. I never heard back and never really expected to be able to take advantage of the opportunity. But since my kids were very young at the time, I thought that I might get a shot when they were older. But I knew that it was a long shot.

Well, I received a mailing yesterday from the ticket office offering me the opportunity to buy up to four season tickets but only have about 10 days to make my decision. I was stunned.

My only thought is that if the Athletic Department is offering ME tickets, that UM season ticket sales must have plummeted due to 1) U.S. economy 2) drop-off in auto industry support 2) the recent lack of success on the field.